Local courthouses maintaining hybrid model as province reopens
As the province moves up the timelines for its next phase of reopening, Gore Bay courthouse operations will remain status quo with a hybrid in-person and virtual model. There have also been no changes communicated with regards to Wiikwemkoong court operations.
“We’ve been open to the public with precautionary measures put into place since September 2020,” said Kyla Nadorozny, supervisor of court operations, Manitoulin and Espanola. “We have always had the capacity to have people in-person if they wanted to be or needed to be because they couldn’t meaningfully participate in a virtual way. At this point, as far as we know, that will continue but our capacity limits, just like everywhere else, have been removed.”
Capacity is not often an issue in Gore Bay, she pointed out.
Trials have been continuing since reopening in September 2020. Some have been virtual while others have occurred in-person. “It’s just dependent on how the participants are able to participate, whether they’re able to come in person or whether they are content to do it in a virtual or hybrid manner,” Ms. Nadorozny said.
She doesn’t know if that will change in the future. “We’re following the medical advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health and are just trying to implement new direction as it comes down.”
Mindemoya post office boxes vandalized
For the first time in living memory thieves have struck the Canada Post site in Mindemoya.
“In the late evening, early morning hours of March 6-7 an unknown individual or individuals damaged mailboxes at the post office, stealing mail and packages,” said Constable Tessa Kasch, community services officer with the Manitoulin Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) detachment.
“It was sometime Sunday overnight,” agreed Mindemoya postmaster Diane Kay, who noted that some 22 boxes had been damaged and/or opened. “It looks like they used a screwdriver to pry open the boxes.”
Ms. Kay confirmed that this was the first time such an incident has taken place at the Mindemoya post office. The door to the room where the boxes are located is not normally locked at night or on the weekends.
“That’s something that is going to change,” said Ms. Kay.
The OPP is requesting that anyone who may have seen suspicious activity or noticed anything on the night of the incident contact them. “People are sometimes reluctant to call thinking that what they might know or might have seen isn’t important,” said Constable Kasch. She pointed out that “we take all of the information that comes in to create a clearer picture of what has taken place during an occurrence. Even small details can be very important.”
OPP seek assistance in solving break and enters
The Manitoulin detachment of the OPP is seeking assistance from the public to identify the individual(s) responsible for several break and enters on Lake Mindemoya.
Investigation has determined that unknown individual(s) broke into ice shacks, resulting in significant damage and various items stolen
